What to do with a list of email addresses ?

Hello there -

I've started a basic subscription portal late last year which allow people to subscribe to their favorite sport teams and then get notified by email ~30 minutes before they are playing.

This service is entirely free, but as I'm getting more and more users, I'm starting to be worried about the cost and would like to explore what my options are if I want to monetize these emails (~2-3k sent weekly and it's growing 8-10% every month).

I do not want to sell their email addresses to any third party random spam company, as I take my user trust very seriously. So far I've just added a basic link to my paypal donate button, allowing them to decide whether or not they're willing to give me some extra $.

As I'm fairly new on this domain, I'm just wondering if any of you guys had the same problem, and if yes, how did you solve it? Any recommendations on this?

 

I do use a solution event cheaper than Mandrill, but still, I'd to be sure my system is scalable and I will be able to send up 1000s of emails without spending too much money.

I'm interested about the 2nd point, I did some research but did not think any email-ads related. Are you talking about banner embedded on my emails?

 

If I summarize the above discussion including my thoughts. You can do the following

1) Donation button which you already have.
2) Sell AD space in your newsletter
3) Sell AD space on your website
4) Use Google Ad Sense on website
5) Add a small membership FEE for a membership area - plan something keeping your content in mind
6) Sell your own Products/Services like a Book or Content writing

Above is the list so far. Can someone add more?

 

Thanks a lot for for your suggestions. 2) seems to be a good alternative to what I have right now.

 

Look for potential advertisers and allow them to send a solo ad to your list for a fee. Also, include a small ad with the notifications thats sent out. Im sure there are sports betting related sites that would be interested in having their website in the notifications.

 

maybe promote some sport related cpa offers to them.